‘I’m proud to be a Derry girl’ – former refugee Lilian Seenoi-Barr to become Northern Ireland’s first black mayor

Councillor Lilian Seenoi-Barr (42) has been selected as the next mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council.

She had already made history as the first black politician to be elected to public office in Northern Ireland last year, when she won a council seat in the Foyleside district of Derry.

Ms Seenoi-Barr, who was born in Kenya, said she was “proud to be a Maasai woman and a Derry girl”.

“I cannot express how much the honour of serving as mayor of Derry and Strabane means to me,” she said.

“The people of this city have taken me into their hearts and everywhere I go I never fail to be amazed at the warmth, kindness and generosity of the people who live here.

“Having initially come to Derry as a refugee facing an uncertain future, I can now truly say that my family have found their home.

“The significance of my appointment as mayor is not lost on me, and I will work for every single person in this city regardless of their religion, ethnicity or background. These are the values I have carried with me since getting involved in politics and are reflected in the ethos of my party.”

The SDLP welcomed Ms Seenoi-Barr’s upcoming appointment, praising her as “a source of constant enthusiasm, energy and positivity” and “a valued addition to the SDLP family”.

Ms Seenoi-Barr has campaigned in Derry on gender rights issues for Maasai women, forced marriage and female genital mutilation. She is also the founder and director of the North West Migrants Forum, which supports black and minority ethnic communities who live in Northern Ireland.

At the height of global Black Lives Matter protests in 2021, the councillor organised demonstrations and spoke out against systemic racism. The mayoral selection process has been criticised by some party members as “undemocratic” and prompted the resignation of current deputy mayor Jason Barr, who left the SDLP and will now stand as an independent councillor.

Mr Barr and another councillor, Shauna Cusack, had both planned to run against Ms Seenoi-Barr but said they were sidelined.

Their protestations were not “sour grapes”, the pair insisted, but moreover reflected a “genuine concern about the lack of democracy in the process”.

In a joint statement, they said that they had been rejected as candidates for the role, “removing us from the process and competition, in order to put only one candidate forward for the post”.

Mr Seenoi-Barr has been celebrated by Kenyan figures including Kenyan senator Ledama Olekina who posted on X: “Please join me in congratulating my baby sister Councillor Lilian Seenoi for being elected as the first black – Maasai Mayor of the City of Derry.”

The new mayor has previously said that racial equality is an “afterthought” in Northern Ireland, despite the progress being made in advancing equality in public life, given that the new executive does not have any politicians who are of minority ethnic heritage.

Amid the celebrations there was a sour note, however.

Ms Seenoi-Barr has been the target of racism, including from American far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who in 2022 was ordered to pay £1.2bn for falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in America was a hoax.

Jones has an audience of 2.3m followers on the online platform X, formerly Twitter, and has posted about the incoming Mayor of Derry and Strabane using language including ‘invaders’, ‘replacement migration’, ‘conquer the west’ and ‘Ireland is in the crosshairs’.

However, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: “The racially motivated attacks on Lilian over the weekend and today have been coordinated by far-right political actors hell-bent on spreading misinformation to fuel their own appalling ideology.

“These people don’t care about places like Derry and Strabane, they don’t care about the people who live here and have made a home for their families here. The hate at the heart of their politics could not stand more starkly against the compassion that Lilian has shown for the people of Derry, people across this island and those in need even further afield.

“Lilian will be an excellent Mayor precisely because she cares deeply about people regardless of their background, she is fearless in her advocacy and she works every single day to bring communities closer together. We will not be cowed by people like Alex Jones or his band of hate. We’ve got Lilian’s back - that is not going to change.”